FORT McMURRAY, ALTA - The Olympic flame tour dipped south into Alberta yesterday, and besides expecting bigger crowds, torch relay officials were also anticipating protests.

They didn't materialize.

Jim Richards, the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee's director of torch relays, said Greenpeace was one organization they thought might make its presence felt as the flame came to Fort McMurray, a city synonymous with the Alberta oil sands. And Greenpeace had demonstrated here only a few weeks ago.

But according to Mr. Richards, VANOC intelligence sources informed the flame tour late yesterday that they were confident no protests would occur, after being sure they would only days before.

Bruce Cox, executive director of Greenpeace Canada, said in an interview the environmental organization never had plans to disrupt the relay here. He said there is a "great deal of paranoia" in Fort McMurray about Greenpeace's activities so he's not surprised there were reports the group was planning some stunt around the relay.

That would not have made Mayor Melissa Blake happy.

"The relay is such a unifying event," said Ms. Blake, shortly after the jet carrying the flame touched down here.

"I don't understand why someone would want to disrupt something that is so positive and that so many people are behind. I think it would only make people angry and not help their cause at all."

If protest groups were dissuaded from staging some sort of stunt here, it may be because of the public backlash after demonstrations in Victoria on Day One of the tour. There, protesters threw marbles on the road, presumably to spook horses police were riding on. The relay had to be rerouted and one torch bearer with multiple sclerosis lost his opportunity to run. (He would get an opportunity the next day.) But the damage was done.

This has created an enormous problem for organizations that might be tempted to use the torch's journey across the country to draw attention to their particular cause.

Waving placards in the background of a relay isn't apt to get it done. It usually takes something more dramatic to get the media to care. Often that means disrupting the run, which, in addition to Victoria, we saw in past Olympic relays.

But Canadians are not likely to show any patience for this type of tactic. If the first eight days of the tour has demonstrated anything, it's that the relay is a collection of individual acts by individual Canadians. And any group that would deny a person the chance to carry the Olympic torch is likely going to do long-term, possibly permanent, damage to their cause.

"We had always hoped to build some equity with the people running," said Mr. Richards in an interview at an earlier relay stop in Grande Prairie. "These are salt of the earth, proud Canadians, the kind of person who is going to get behind the Canadian team in Vancouver.

"They are part of the non-vocal majority in Canada. And I don't think anyone thinks it's fair to see their moment in the spotlight stolen by some of the vocal minority."

So far, crowds have far exceeded VANOC's expectations. Thousands arrived at a local recreation centre here to see a cauldron lit by the flame. In Grand Prairie, a town of about 60,000, about 5,000 people jammed a local amphitheatre to watch the flame arrive and see a cauldron lit. And thousands more lined the streets as the torchbearers jogged by.

In Grande Prairie, it was every bit a Tim Horton's, blue-jeans-and-cowboy-boots-type crowd. Mr. Richards is right. The crowds that are coming out to support the relay are the type of people who make up the heart of the country - people with whom you don't want to mess.

Greenpeace's Mr. Cox admitted organizations such as his have to tread carefully when organizing any demonstration around a popular event.

"But sometimes when you have to confront an issue and no one is listening, it means you have to take direct action," said Mr. Cox, who was arrested here three weeks ago during Greenpeace's oil sands protests.

While Greenpeace decided not to strike this part of the torch route, Mr. Cox would not comment on future plans.

"We never do," he said. "We don't talk about planned acts of civil disobedience. But as I said before, you ultimately want to build public support for what you're fighting for not destroy it."

Which is why Greenpeace might just take a pass on disrupting events leading up to the Games.